Jacky Black
by past is today
Summary: Jack follows a shadow late at night a year after Pitch's defeat. Pitch follows Jack to find out where he is going with search purpose, everything is going according to the moons plan and when Pitch and Jack reach the end of this journey the two of them will be tied together for ever.
1. Finding a Child

There was no moon, only the stars. They reflected off the snow and ice covering the ground and the trees, just enough light to see by. Not very far, because there was no moon yet, it had only just started to rise over the edge of the horizon, not yet enough to share it's light. But enough to share it's magic.

Jack Frost stalked through the winter woods, his feet just not quite touching the ground, he was following a shadow. It wasn't easy in woods that seemed to be almost entirely made of shadows, so more accurately he was following a movement because shadows didn't move. Only Pitch and his minions could be even see that. It had been a while since the guardians had defeated Pitch, since then the shadows and nightmares had mostly wandered aimlessly causing very little trouble. Until recently, now the shadows and nightmares were starting to move with purpose again and that could only mean one of two things.

One, Pitch had regained control of his powers or, two, someone else had and taken control and they might be better or worse than Pitch. Either way the guardian's had to find out. They had scattered to search for Pitch or this new leader, Jack was hoping that if he followed this shadow, that was probably a living one, it would lead him to their leader.

Pitch slipped from shadow to shadow following Jack, he wasn't quite sure what the young guardian was doing out in such a dark time of the night. Pitch could see just fine but he knew it was so dark that Jack couldn't possibly be able to see more than three feet in any direction, a radius that Pitch was careful to stay out of. Pitch had looked forward to a time when he could catch this boy, who had rejected him, away from the protection of his fellow guardians, a chance to make him suffer.

It had been a while since the guardian's had beaten him, sending him cowering back to the caves and caverns that had once been his home but had nearly turned into his prison. That defeat had been Jack's fault, Jack had tipped the balance away from him and toward the guardians. If Jack had just seen that they were the same. But it was too late for that now, now he had a chance to extract the revenge that he had longed for so dearly against the boy who had made Pitch feel the pain of rejection again.

Yet now that he had a chance, he let his curiosity get the best of him. Jack was moving with such purpose through this blackness, how could he possibly have such purpose when he could barely see? What sort of purpose could it possibly be? Pitch wanted to find out enough that he didn't attack yet, he just followed Jack patiently, keeping his eyes slightly squinted so that the glowing gold of them would show as little as possible.

Jack continued to follow the shadow through the forest until he reached a clearing. It must have been near the centre of the forest, though he couldn't be sure. Even though the moon had risen above the trees by now, but it was still hidden by a cloud. He took a few careful steps into the clearing, looking around for the shadow he had been following but it had disappeared. He gripped his staff tightly with both hands holding it slightly in front of him in a defensive position.

Had the shadow finally figured out that it was being followed and was going to attack Jack now? Nothing happened as he entered the clearing, he wished the moon would come out from behind the clouds so he could see more than basic shapes. As if granting his wish the wind finally blew the cloud out of the moon's way, it's light shone over the frozen world and illuminated a sight in the clearing that made Jack gasp in horror.

There was a child in the clearing, a little girl, only four or five years old, younger than his sister had been when Jack had died. He hadn't seen the girl before because she was laying down, curled in a small ball and half covered in snow. He felt the wind sweep his feet out from under him and rocket him to the child's side. He forgot all about the shadow he had been following as he lifted the girl from the snow.

Her hair was black but he couldn't see what colour her eyes were, as they appeared to be frozen shut. He put a hand on her chest lightly, he could feel it rising and falling slowly and shallowly like her lungs had been frozen and she couldn't breath in air because they refused to expand. Jack didn't know what to do because he knew there was nothing he could do. He couldn't keep this girl warm, and he couldn't get her to a warm place fast enough.

It was too late for her, he knew it was. Her lips were almost grey and the rest of her skin had taken the blue tint that usually only lips got. She wasn't even shivering anymore, her poor young body had given up hope on getting warm and had resigned itself to dieing. Jack held his staff with one hand so that he could take the small body into his arms as it slowly began to stiffen in death, until without as much as a last gasp the movement in the girls chest stopped.

Jack could feel cold tears pricking at his eye's, he was supposed to protect children and it hurt so much that there had been nothing he could do to protect this one. He closed his eyes for a moment holding the now empty shell that had held a child he had not known. After a moment he started to put the child down, hoping that the child's parents would at least be able to find her body. He would come back later to bury her if her body was still there.

He laid her carefully on the ground and let go. The moment his last bit of contact with her body was released he felt a jolt in his chest. It didn't feel like too much energy had been put into him though. It felt like electricity, but that electricity had reached deep inside him and ripped something out. He keeled over, from shock more than anything else and lay for a moment clutching his staff with both hands, temporarily unable to wonder what the cause of the shock was.

Pitch watched as Jack walked into the clearing, he seemed to have lost the purpose he had possessed earlier and Pitch was losing interest. Too bad, it looked like Pitch wouldn't know what Jack had been after because he was ready to forget his curiosity and just attack Jack. He slipped out of the last shadow at the edge of the clearing, placing himself right behind Jack, he was just about to open his mouth to speak when the cloud moved and he shrank back.

A child, a dying child, he hadn't sensed her at all, not that that was very surprising. It didn't look like there was enough of her left in that body to feel any fear. Pitch disappeared back into the shadows again as Jack rushed to the girl, could Jack help her? Pitch didn't wish for the death of any child, it was true he enjoyed scaring them but he didn't want them to die, not children. He wasn't hopeful for the child's state and what little he had disappeared when he saw the look on Jack's face.

Pitch relaxed in defeat, there was nothing to be done for the child and therefore no reason to feel bad. Still he couldn't help but feeling, at least, a bit disappointed, human children were such bright fragile little creatures that it was always a shame when one of their lives was lost. It was like a delicate flower had been picked before it's chance to bloom. He edged forward slightly looking over Jack unnoticed, he watched the life leave the small girl with a blank expression.

He stayed where he was as Jack put the girls body back down, if Jack turned and saw him fine, he wanted a fight anyway. He was expecting any number of things to happen once the girls body left Jacks, but he was not expecting the tearing jolt that ran through his core. He doubled over momentarily unable to breath, but he was older the Jack and he had suffered more so he did not fall. He was able to straighten up and watch, in amazement, what happened next.

He watched a wisp of light blue energy from Jack separate into a few strands and wrap the body of the girl. It seeped into her hair turning it white and into her skin making it even paler than it had been before, but removing the blue tint. He also saw the wisp of shadow that he assumed must be from himself separate and wrap around the body as well and sink into the areas of her the blue hadn't touched.

It covered her hands painting her nails black as they grew longer and slightly hooked like Pitch's, then run under the skin from her hands and up her arms. It went under her entire body tinting her skin, barely perceivable, grey. The only place that the blue and black energy combined was over the girl's forehead and eyes. The energy tangled and braided before sinking through her eyes and into her mind.

Finally there was no doubt that what he was looking at was no longer a human. She was pure white and pale grey with darker grey lips and eyelids, her fingers darkened down to black claw like points. The thing he noticed most though was her chest, it was moving again. Rising and falling slowly as if she were peacefully asleep. He smiled slightly, so this would be the new addition to the spirits? What will she be?

Finally Jack got his senses back enough to notice Pitch standing so close to him. He sprung up facing Pitch in a defensive stance. He was just about to demand to know what Pitch wanted before he realized that Pitch wasn't looking at him, in fact Pitch was completely ignoring Jack. He was looking at the place where the humans body had been with such intensity that Jack had to look too. What he saw made his mouth fall open in shock. What had happened to her?

It didn't matter, she was breathing again. He was reaching for her as a voice spoke in his head that made him freeze. He looked at Pitch and could tell from the look on his face that he heard it too. It was the Man in the moon, he was speaking to them.

_"This is your daughter." _He said to the two of them in a voice that neither of them had heard in hundreds of years, yet one neither had forgotten. "_Raise her together and raise her well." _The moon said no more, and both Jack and Pitch knew better than to ask. The man in the moon talked when he wanted to and that was it. Jack and Pitch stared at each other for a long and silent moment before Jack took a step away from the girl, rejecting the idea that she could be both his and Pitch's.

Pitch on the other hand stepped forward, reached down to the girl, lifting her gently with his long fingered hands and holding her gently to his chest wrapping her in a blanket of shadows. His golden eyes met Jacks ice blue ones and they stared each other down defiantly, waiting for the other to look away. It was Jack who looked away first of course. Even though the way the nightmare king held the child was gentle, his eyes weren't and it wasn't a gaze one could hold. Looking to the side, Jack heard Pitch speak and what he said both infuriated him and made him resign to the situation at the same time.

"Would you, guardian, refuse the will of the moon?" Pitch's Voice was sneering and domineering but he was right, the man in the moon had made them all, he ran the show and they all did what he wanted. Pitch was the only one who had ever even come close to defying the man in the moon, and if Pitch was agreeing to this then Jack didn't really know how he couldn't.

It was not as hard for Pitch to accept the child as Jack seemed to think, Pitch was very willing to accept that this girl was his daughter. It hardly mattered to him that she was Jack's daughter as well. Pitch wanted a daughter, he wanted a family. He had meant it when he had told Jack that, so, for now at least, Pitch was willing to put aside his hatred for Jack for the prospect of finally getting the thing he had wanted for so long.

Pitch looked back at Jack and almost laughed at the look on his face, he looked horrified. Pitch would have been happy to take the child and raise her on his own but if Jack wanted, as badly as his face would imply, not to be part of the girl's life then Pitch would make sure that he was. It also helped that even though Pitch had left the ways of the moon a long time ago, he still was not willing to completely defy a direct command from the moon, and the moon had told Jack and Pitch to raise the girl together.

He stalled for a moment by wrapping the girl in a blanket of shadow. He was fairly sure that she couldn't get cold as she appeared to be made out of snow as Jack was, but he too was shocked and needed a moment to adjust. Finally he looked up at Jack and met his eyes, fiercely mentally daring Jack to try and take the girl from him. Jack didn't and after a moment he looked away.

"Would you, Guardian, refuse the will of the moon?" He asked mockingly knowing how much the stupid weak minded group loved and trusted the arrogant overbearing spirit. He was half hoping that Jack would defy the moon this time, just fly away and let Pitch take the girl, because he was not looking forward to doing anything with Jack. He could tell though, from the way Jack's shoulders slumped that they were both out of luck, unless something changed they would do the will of the moon.

Pitch sighed inwardly, he was grateful to the moon for finally giving him someone to care for but why with Jack? Why with anyone for that matter? There was great potential in this to cause Pitch pain. However, faced with this unfathomable situation, his need for connection outweighed his own doubts. He would only be able to tell what the moon wanted with time.

* * *

><p>I need to thank two people for this story. One, my wonderful editor Homer who can be found at on tumblr. Two the rp partner who has helped me dele further into this idea, RBGrey who can be found at .com on tumblr.<p>

My tumblr is at if anyone cares. I hope you enjoyed the story so far.


	2. Finding a Place

Neither Jack, or Pitch were quite sure what to do now that it had been determined that they wouldn't be trying to kill each other. They had started out staring at each other defensively, but it wasn't long before both their eyes were drawn to the girl sleeping in Pitch's arms. They were both transfixed by her, still coming to grips with her creation and existence.

Finally the spell was broken by the girl stilling from her deep sleep, she smiled gently in her sleep and giggled in a way that was both completely charming and a little disturbing. This broke the spell, Pitch and Jack looked back at each other with less hostility.

"Where do we take her?" Pitch asked, Jack in a quiet voice, as not to wake her. "She has to have a home, it can't be with your precious guardians." he said the sneer returning to his voice.

Jack felt a anger boil in him but he kept his voice low as well. "So where? Your caves? That's no place for a child and definitely not one where I'd be able to be a part of her life." Jack crossed his arms stubbornly trying to make it clear that he would budge. He would have argued with Pitch about raising her with the guardians but he knew that no child of Pitch would be welcome with them, even if she was Jack's child as well.

Pitch hissed slightly through his teeth, he was already growing impatient with Jack. "Well where then?`He asked in a slightly exasperated voice, he wanted to allow Jack this decision, because he doubted Jack would trust him enough to accept a choice from Pitch. Not that Pitch trusted Jack at all, but he wasn't afraid of Jack and he knew that Jack was afraid of him as well. Should there be in a fight between Pitch and Jack alone without the help of his fellow guardians they both knew that Pitch would win easily, he had already proven that once before.

Jack didn't want to make the choice of where they would take this girl, but he knew that he would have to. He knew as well as Pitch did that in a weird way Pitch trusted Jack more than Jack trusted Pitch. Pitch would accept a decision from Jack as long as it wasn't a stupid one, but Jack would never accept any decision of Pitch's.

Jack sighed and bit his lip slightly and looked away from Pitch, staring at the ground to the right of his feet, thinking. It would have to be somewhere they both _could _ live so somewhere darkish at least and cold. It couldn't be too close to the other guardians because this wasn't something they could find out about, at least not right away.

"Well we don't know which parts of both of us she has, so why not a ice cave in the antarctic? That's dark enough for you and cold enough for me and far away from both of our strong hold things." It made sense to him, though he made the dark enough for Pitch seem more about the child than him not wanting to make it seem like he wanted to spend time with Pitch, because he certainly didn't.

Pitch nodded silently surprised by how quickly and logically Jack had answered him, most of the times Pitch had seen Jack he had seemed fairly silly and childish. Maybe that was just because of the fear and anger and Jack had always been experiencing during those encounters but this still surprised Pitch. Suddenly Pitch got a idea that made his lips curl once more into a slightly sinister smile.

"Alright." Pitch said and quickly before Jack could react, Pitch stepped forward shifting the girl so he could hold her in one arm and then snatched one of Jack's wrists. Stepping back into a shadow He sank into it, falling as if there was no ground at all and pulling Jack with him. This was the way he traveled through the shadows, falling into them, almost like they were one of those tunnels the stupid rabbit used. Only inside it was completely dark and he could get anywhere instantaneously, they were almost like miniature worm holes.

This time though because he had Jack along for the ride, he decided to extend the trip just a little bit. Jack couldn't fight Pitch while they were in the tunnels because he couldn't move. Pitch was the only spirit who could move through these shadows, if he just let Jack go now he would be caught in this in between place until Pitch came back for him. It was tempting but after a moment of enjoying the terror that coursed through Jack because of the suffocating, restricting darkness, Pitch, sighed and stepped out of a shadow in antarctic and pulled Jack through after him.

Pitch immediately released Jack and wrapped both arms back around the child, laughing cruelly as Jack stumbled and fell, unable to get his feet underneath him in time. Pitch could see Jack's face become even paler, practically white from the shock and fear of the tunnel and now the anger at Pitch for doing that.

"The antarctic is a very large place, Jack." Pitch said stifling his grin and trying to sound practical, though he couldn't quite hide his pleasure at the waves of anger and lingering fear from Jack. "If we had gone separate ways it would have taken too long to find one another again, and since I am incapable of flight the only way to go together was my way." he didn't think Jack was convinced but he thought the explanation might placate Jack slightly.

Jack felt like he had left his stomach back in the clearing where he and Pitch had found the child. His legs were still shaking a bit too much to stand as he sat back on his heels and glared up at Pitch. He could see the grin the damn shadow king was trying to hide. Jack wanted to freeze it right off his face and he only restrained himself for two reasons. One, he half suspected Pitch was right about having to go the same way even though it wouldn't have killed that shadow king to warn Jack first. Two, they didn't know what affect that intensity of cold would do to the child, and until they did, Jack wouldn't risk creating a concentrated blast of cold like that anywhere near her.

"Fine." he growled angrily before looking around at the place Pitch had brought them to. It was a cave, it looked like an ice cave from where they were at the mouth of the cave, but looking farther back down the tunnel Jack could see it turned to stone. The stone near the mouth of the cave must just have been coated in ice. He thought that was a good thing, if the girl, like Pitch, liked to be warm sometimes they could make a fire where the ice stopped and the stone would keep in the warmth. Jack would just have to keep a bit of distance while the fire was going.

At least Jack couldn't see any signs of a trap, of course he hadn't expected there to be one, and Pitch hadn't exactly had time to plan one. Still Jack had been slightly nervous, though he could blame that on the effect the nightmare king himself had, he didn't exactly make anyone feel safe. Finally able to get to his feet, Jack made his way to the entrance of the cave looking out at the seemingly unending landscape of pure white snow.

It made him feel better. This place was his more than it was Pitch's, he could deal with raising their child here. Jack shook his head slightly, he was already getting used to the idea of having a child with Pitch that was weird. Having decided that this was a suitable place he turned back to see Pitch carrying the girl a bit deeper into the cave, and Jack followed them.


	3. Finding a name

Since Jack didn't seem in a hurry to run off and find a different spot, Pitch carried the girl deeper into the cave away from the bright light and bitter cold. Reaching the edge of the light where Jack would still be able to see he created a bed out of shadows. Because it wasn't solid it would be able to mold perfectly to her body as she moved, like most children's dream of sleeping on a cloud. Gently he lay her down before creating a chair for himself out of the black sand he loved, he sat straight back and crossed his legs to wait for the child to wake up.

"I wonder if she'll remember her name." He heard Jack say from fairly close behind him, Pitch had hardly noticed he was there his level of fear was so low. Pitch couldn't decide if that was a good thing or not. It was a good thing if they were to raise the girl but, at the same time, Pitch would miss that fear.

"Moon knows." Pitch said with a small shrug, the moon most likely did know but it wasn't like he was going to share. "If she doesn't remember her name I suppose we shall have to name her." He said unsure that they would be able to agree on a name for her.

"Do you think we should come up with the name now while she's still asleep just in case?" Jack asked, he was unsure as well, but if this was a thing they were going to fight about, they should do it before the child was awake to hear them. He didn't know if she would feel the same seeing them fight, but Pitch had felt the fear of children present when their parents argued and it was nothing he wanted this girl, he already considered his own, to feel.

"I suppose we should but I believe it should be mostly your decision because, once again, I will be more likely to accept your decision then you accept mine. You've also spent more time with children recently and know what names will not be scorned."

Jack breathed out slowly trying to think if name that suited the child. It seemed like quite a big responsibility and Jack wasn't sure he wanted it, luckily a distraction came at that moment in the form of the girl beginning to stir. She sighed and shifted on the bed of shadows, she stretched and her eyes fluttered open. Jack caught his breath and heard Pitch do the same, her eyes were golden just like Pitch's, she had looked much more like Jack than Pitch but now, with her eyes open it seemed almost equal.

"Hello darling." Pitch said in a soft tone Jack would have never imagined the nightmare king using. "How are you feeling?" The girl's gold eyes slipped to Pitch's face with none of the fear most children held in their eyes when looking at him and she smiled.

"Papa?" She asked softly, Pitch's breathing hitched but then he chuckled.

"I guess so." He said smiling down at the girl.

"Hey why do you get to be papa?" Jack said frowning and thinking _I sure as hell am not being mama. _The girl looked at his her gold eyes wide and broke into a wide smile that took his breath away and made him think that maybe, for this child, he would be mama.

"Daddy!" She exclaimed jumping up from the shadowy bed and hugging Jack, even though she hardly came up to his waist.

Jack laughed loudly in delight, all of his misgivings about raising this girl swept away. Although he still didn't like who he was meant to raise her with. He scooped the little one into his arms, settling her gently on his hip, suppressing his defensive reaction to Pitch stepping closer and leaning towards her.

"Do you remember know your name little one?" Pitch asked gently. She stared up at him for a moment, her eyes wide as she thought about the question.

"Jaclyn Black." She said, suddenly grinning proudly at Pitch and reaching out as if she'd rather he hold her. Pitch obliged her and reached out to take her, though Jack only gave her up with noticeable resistance.

"Excellent Jaclyn!" Pitch praised, cradling her in his arms in a far more practiced way then Jack had. "Do you remember anything else?" Jack knew what Pitch was getting at, if Jaclyn remembered her human family they might want her back but Jaclyn shook her head, her eyes were wide and curious, just a little scared. Probably wondering if she should remember something else.

"That's fine princess." Pitch said quickly bouncing her slightly "You don't have to remember anything we'll look after you." Jack nodded in agreement staring at Pitch. Where had the bogeyman gotten so good with little girls? Pitch noticed Jack staring and stared back evenly, Jack could still see a bit of the cold hatred and hostility in Pitch's eyes, but it was carefully concealed for the sake of the girl.

Jack realized he wasn't following the same example and looked away, Jack had seen the pain of children who know their parents hated each other and he didn't want that for Jaclyn.

At least the cold of the cave didn't seem to be bothering her, so maybe she did have Jack's powers. The fact that her eyes were yellow like Pitch's suggested she could see in the dark too, so they had picked the right place. Suddenly she started squirming in Pitch's arms.

"Down!" She demanded enthusiastically and Pitch placed her gently on the ground letting her run over to the ice-covered wall of the cave. Jack noticed for the first time that it was slightly reflective and she could see her reflection in it. She stared hard at herself intensely interested as if she had never seen herself before, which she hadn't, at least not like this. She frowned at her dress which was plain and torn, still flecked with snow.

"Not a very pretty dress is it?" Pitch asked "Certainly not one fit for our princess." He kneeled down behind her, "Close your eyes, I have a surprise for you." Pitch told her gently laying his long fingered hands on her shoulders. She smiled widely again and closed her eyes.

Jack watched closely as, without touching her, Pitch shaped a beautiful dress around her out of shadows. Jack noticed that Pitch allowed light to still move through it in many places so it seemed to be glittering. When Pitch was satisfied with it he stood up and stepped back next to Jack.

"It would look even better with your touch, Jack." Pitch pointed out. Jack couldn't help but agree, the dress was beautiful, floor length and short sleeved, contrasting beautifully with her white skin but it was plain as well. Stepping forward Jack added swirls of frost around the hem, sleeves and neckline, when he was done he glanced back and Pitch who nodded slightly.

"Alright snowflake you can open your eyes now." Jack told her, she did and immediately they widened as she caught sight of herself and her new dress in the ice. She laughed in delight twirling and the dress flared out perfectly. She seemed delighted with it and spun three more times before she ran to hug Jack and Pitch in turn.

"We'll teach you how to make things like that, princess, some day you'll be able to make yourself all the pretty clothes you want, and other things as well." Pitch promised smiling softly when Jaclyn jumped up and down in excitement. It had never occurred to Jack to make his own clothes out of snow and ice, but he supposed that he could if he wanted to since the cold didn't bother him at all.

"Start now?" Jaclyn half asked half demanded looking back and forth between Jack and Pitch pleadingly.

"Alright!" Jack laughed, honestly he couldn't wait to start teaching her, he could already tell that she would have so much fun, and of course, fun was his thing. He wanted to start teaching her about his powers but he looked at Pitch first incase Pitch wanted to start. Not that he trusted Pitch but obviously they both wanted to make this work, and he did trust Pitch to do what was best for the child as well.

"You go ahead Jack, my powers are… difficult to manage if she does have them, we should wait for a while before encouraging her to use them." Pitch said hesitating before difficult in a way that made Jack sure that, that was not what he meant. Jack was not sure what Pitch really did mean, but he was too excited to teach Jaclyn about his powers to stop and ask.

"We should go outside to practice just in case." Jack told Jaclyn beginning to lead the way as she ran after him. He heard Pitch calling something behind him, but he didn't hear what it was and he didn't pause or go back to check what he said.

Behind them Pitch scowled, Jack would have to get better at listening him, because apparently he had forgotten that since it had been night where they had found Jaclyn, and had then traveled halfway across the world, it was day here. If Jaclyn was like him she wouldn't be able to handle the light, it most likely would disperse her as it had him when he was weaker, but it still might hurt her. He felt to bitter to follow but he was worried about Jaclyn so he did follow, melting into shadow first so that Jack wouldn't be able to see Pitch as he observed.

Pitch watched as Jaclyn ran after Jack, her shoes came off as she ran but she didn't seem to notice. Well that proved she had Jack's resilience to cold at any rate, and that made him even surer that she would have his weakness to light. He stopped in the mouth of the cave watching closely as Jack half flew out of the cave and Jaclyn followed. The sun was behind a cloud which gave Pitch some hope that she would be okay and, for now at least, she seemed to be okay.

As Jack began his lesson Pitch began to relax watching with interest as Jack demonstrated his powers to Jaclyn causing her to jump up and down and clap in excitement. He began to explain to her how they worked and when she started trying to use them herself Pitch was almost ready to leave them to it, he had turned his back to go when he heard a scream.

Whipping around he saw that the clouds had passed and the sun was shining directly on Jaclyn. She had fallen to her knees and was covering her eyes shielding them from the light. Pitch looked at Jack quickly, but he had frozen and didn't seem to know what to do, so Pitch would have to be the one to act even though he didn't react any better to sunlight.

He couldn't travel as shadows in the bright snowy white landscape so he ran out hissing in pain as the light touched him, but he kept going until he reached Jaclyn. Picking her up he did his best to shield her as he carried her back to the safe darkness of the cave. He didn't put her down once they were inside, instead cradling her and trying to calm her, he could still taste her fear and it was acrid to him. He didn't want her to be afraid which was a new feeling to him, he wasn't sure he liked it but he also couldn't help it.

"It's alright you are safe now dear, you can uncover your eyes, the light is gone." He bounced her gently carrying her slowly deeper to where the darkness was more pure and slowly she peeked out from between her fingers. Once she was sure she uncovered her eyes and wrapped her small arms around Pitch's neck instead and started crying. Pitch could feel her trembling and hear her small sniffles as he rubbed her back.

"Hush princess it's okay, you're safe now." Pitch repeated gently letting her cry, he could feel her fear ebbing. Suddenly it spiked and she pulled back her eyes wide and wild.

"Daddy's out there he'll be hurt!" Pitch was confused for a moment but then he realized what she meant. Of course she didn't know that Jack wasn't hurt by the sun like they were.

"No, no he'll be fine, the light doesn't bother him." She looked confused. "Me and your dad have different powers." He tried to explain. "His are over the cold so you and him don't feel cold the way I do and my powers are over darkness so you and I feel the light differently than him." Jaclyn still looked confused after Pitch's explanation but she was calmer and she nodded, she would understand once she knew more about their powers.

"Does this mean no more power lessons?" Jaclyn asked pouting slightly looking at Pitch, with big eyes that were still shining with tears.

"No it doesn't, you to will just have to wait until night and that shouldn't be long since it's close to the Antarctic's long night." Pitch assured her and Jaclyn gave a small smile, cuddling up to Pitch, and tucking her small head under his chin.

Over her head Pitch could see Jack slinking down the tunnel, he looked guilty but also slightly lost, Pitch guessed his eyes had adjusted to the light above and he couldn't see. Pitch didn't care, he could feel fear coming off of Jack and he felt some satisfaction in it, if Jack had just paused to listen to Pitch this wouldn't have happened but in Pitch's arms Jaclyn stirred and he wondered if she could feel Jack's fear as well.

"Jack we are over here." Pitch called to him and Jack turned toward his voice still obviously unseeing but relieved to know which direction he was going.

"Is Jaclyn okay?" Jack asked softly and Pitch felt the fear from Jack intensify, well at least he was worried for her though Pitch could feel fear of rejection there as well.

"I'm fine daddy." Jaclyn answered for Pitch, though she didn't squirm to get down and go to Jack. Pitch bit back the urge to reprimand Jack, he wouldn't do it in front of Jaclyn, but if Jack had just listened! Pitch had been listening to Jack's suggestions the least he could do would be to return the gesture.

Jack used Jaclyn's voice to guide him to her, and once he was close enough to see them, Pitch made sure he communicated his displeasure in a glare that Jaclyn couldn't see. Jack met Pitch's eyes for a moment then looked away guiltily and walked up placing his hand gently on Jaclyn's back.


End file.
